All posts tagged Google

The Google filing was sent early due to human error, rather than a systems problem, said R.R. Donnelley CEO Tom Quinlan in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. The company is still investigating what went wrong, he said.

R.R. Donnelley files over 100,000 documents with the SEC each year, and errors of this magnitude are extremely rare, said Mr. Quinlan.

“It is not common in our world, said Mr. Quinlan. “If it was common for us, we wouldn’t be in the business.”

Since the morning mishap, R.R. Donnelley has had to calm other financial clients who have called the company to ensure that their documents wouldn’t also be compromised, Mr. Quinlan said. No clients have canceled contracts as a result of the mistake, he said.

Google shares are open for business once again, and the stock’s drubbing is continuing in the final trading hour.

Shares recently fell 7.5% to $699.67, after earlier falling as much as 11% prior to the halt.

There’s been no shortage of shockers in the inadvertent release of Google’s third-quarter results. While “Pending Larry” quotes already seem destined for Internet meme infamy, add the fact that Google also appears to have put up its first ever year-over-year decline in adjusted earnings since going public in 2004.

That figure strips out one-offs and is the number most Wall Streeters are looking at. Google’s early results showed non-GAAP EPS falling to $9.03/share from $9.72 a year ago. The results fell well short of the $10.65 forecast that the Street was expecting.

Page says Google had a “strong quarter” and he’s “really excited” about the progress the company has been making. Here’s the quote:

“We had a strong quarter. Revenue was up 45 percent year-on-year, and, at just fourteen years old, we cleared our first $14 billion revenue quarter,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google. “I am also really excited about the progress we’re making creating a beautifully simple, intuitive Google experience across all devices.”

Google reported third-quarter earnings of $9.03 a share, well below the $10.65 estimate that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were anticipating. The results were bogged down by a slew of factors, including a big operating loss at Motorola, an acquisition that closed in May.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. says it is “fully engaged” in investigating the early release of Google’s earnings report.

Doug Fitzgerald, a spokesman for R.R. Donnelley, said the company is in the midst of looking into how the event took place. Here’s the statement from Fitzgerald:

We are fully engaged in an investigation to determine how this event took place and are pursuing our first obligation – which is to serve our valued customer.

The comment came after Google placed the blame on the printing-services firm for releasing Google’s earnings report hours earlier than expected.

Here’s Google’s side of the story:

Earlier this morning RR Donnelley, the financial printer, informed us that they had filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorization. We have ceased trading on Nasdaq while we work to finalize the document. Once it’s finalized we will release our earnings, resume trading on NASDAQ and hold our earnings call as normal at 1:30 PM PT.

Earlier this morning RR Donnelley, the financial printer, informed us that they had filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorization. We have ceased trading on NASDAQ while we work to finalize the document. Once it’s finalized we will release our earnings, resume trading on NASDAQ and hold our earnings call as normal at 1:30 PM PT.

Google earnings are out and the Street isn’t impressed. In an SEC filing that appears to have been posted inadvertently, Google reported third-quarter earnings of $9.03, which came in well below the $10.65 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting.

Earnings fell 20% from a year ago as total costs rose and advertising prices continued to fall.

Ad revenue increased 16% as paid clicks surged by 1/3 from a year ago, and 6% from the previous quarter.

But it’s the profit line that’s getting all the attention. Motorola weighed heavily on Google’s profit, generating an adjusted operating loss of $151 million, or 6% of the unit’s revenue.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Comp is wavering in early trading Wednesday after dropping 1.5% yesterday — the biggest one-day slide since June 25.

Major stock indexes have lost ground since the initial QE3 rally about a month ago. The S&P 500 is down about 2% in that time frame, while the Nasdaq is off about 4%.

If the broad market is poised for a significant pullback, chart watchers are growing increasingly concerned that tech stocks could lead the move lower.

“The Nasdaq’s violation of late September lows puts large-cap tech in a relatively weaker overall position than the rest of the market,” says Mark Newton, chief technical analyst at Greywolf Execution Partners.

Wall Street bulls many need to start getting their inspiration from somewhere other than Google and Apple Inc.

While the broad market has struggled to find direction recently as investors have weighed central-bank stimulus against worries about global economic growth, euro-zone sovereign debt and the third-quarter earnings season, bulls could always look toward Google and Apple to help validate their optimism.

Apple and Google were the two biggest contributors to the S&P 500′s 5.8% surge during the third quarter, with rallies of 14% and 30%, respectively.

But now, a worrisome reversal signal in Google and Apple’s recent declines is warning that bulls better start looking elsewhere for inspiration.

It’s like those tech giants are now saying to the stock market what Bud Fox, Charlie Sheen’s character in the movie “Wall Street,” said to a colleague looking for a stock tip: “I’m sick and tired of playing wet nurse to you all the time, alright? Will you do your own homework, Marv?!”

For those of who don’t know how Marv, played by John McGinley, responded to Bud Fox, it wasn’t clean.

Here’s the latest example of new tech surpassing old tech: Google is now bigger than Microsoft in terms of stock-market value.

The search giant’s surging stock price has made it the third-biggest company in the U.S., measured by market capitalization, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

As of Monday’s close, Google’s market value was $249.2 billion, which was slightly ahead of Wal-Mart ($248.9 billion) and Microsoft ($247.4 billion).

Google’s surge in market value comes as the company’s stock price notched its biggest quarterly rally in nearly seven years, jumping 30% during the third quarter. Worries regarding Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola earlier this year have faded. Investors will also remain focused on further stabilization in search-ad fees, which improved over the summer.

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday has apologized to customers over the whole mapping fiasco.

“At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment,” Cook said in a letter posted on the company’s website. “We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.”

Apple shares are down 0.4% at $678.73 in premarket trading. The stock peaked one week ago above $700.

In an unconventional move, Cook recommended users download mapping apps from competitors, such as Microsoft’s Bing, MapQuest and Waze. He also pointed to map services from Google and Nokia as other alternatives.

Google’s stock-market value currently stands at about $249 billion, according to FactSet, which is good for fifth on the list of biggest U.S. companies, trailing Wal-Mart’s $251 billion market cap and Microsoft’s $257 market value.

Google shares have surged more than 30% since June, allowing the company to catapult past IBM on the market-cap list. IBM’s value stands at $234 billion.

While Google’s market cap has been rising quickly, it still has a long way to go before catching the top of the leaderboard.

Apple is by far the most valuable company, with a market cap of $645 billion. Last month it became the largest U.S. company ever, measured by stock-market value. Exxon Mobil rings in at second place with a market cap of $424 billion.

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